First up, the Social Climber examines why the dark side of social could be cause for excitement – but still requires an enlightened approach to measurement.

Next in the sights is CallApp, a caller ID app (surprise!) which will enable us to put our nearest and dearest straight through to voicemail, but not before seeing their newest tweet on the state of their psyche.

And let’s not forget our regular trawl through PR-hungry social media surveys, once more looking to prove that we can all be social, and have a conscience. This month, step forward Pew and the Guardian.

Surely that’s enough for now?

…and so was delighted this week to watch a promotional video for the new Myspace in which Mr Trousersnake (who partly own the site) features heavily.

Elsewhere your social media spirit guide looks at eBay’s latest offering (a suspisciously Pinterest-y new sharing platform) the dreams of a twitter high-up and Facebook’s moral kerfuffle over face recognition software.

Read it in full here: Social Climber no.40 (21st September 2012)

Click here to get Social Climber delivered to your inbox every Friday.

You don’t have to follow Social Climber on Twitter but if you don’t then, frankly, you’re not a real person…

It’s also worth noting that issue 41 marks the end of Social Climber as a weekly newsletter. But fear not, gentle reader, your beloved SC will be returning on the last Friday of every month to dissect the most crucial stories of the previous 30 days…

So then, until next time, Adieu!

In this post I am going to suggest some solutions for the challenges social networks are facing.

One of the main challenges social networks have to overcome is that they are being used as a space where users can portray a false image of themselves (with a reported 83 million fake accounts currently on Facebook). One way of combating this could be for a network like Facebook to adopt a similar strategy to Linkedin, where, before adding someone users have to state how they know the person they are trying to connect with (colleague, classmate etc.) If Facebook were to use this method it could make it more difficult, and less worthwhile, for people setting up fake accounts. This particular approach would also help to control the number of friends users collect which, given that research shows having over 354 friends on Facebook can be detrimental to self-esteem, could be a positive move. Additionally ensuring that users actually know their Facebook Friends in real life means they will more likely know which friends like to exaggerate, lie, boast etc. This will mean that  users are less likely to feel worse about themselves when comparing their lives and achievements to Facebook friends they actually know.

A further challenge for the self-esteem of social network users is the increasing amount of time they are spending  online with some research showing that there is a link between the amount of time spent on Facebook and depressive symptoms. This can’t directly be controlled, however I believe that if you give users other things to look at or do within their chosen social networks it could help to reduce the amount of time they spend looking (and potentially obsessing) over other user’s pictures and statuses. For example, a recent addition to the Facebook newsfeed are ‘trending articles’ that users’ friends have read. This could drive users away from status updates but retains the ‘social’ element as the ‘buzz’ around these articles results from a user’s friends having read them.

Many users who suffer self-esteem issues do so after comparing themselves unfavourably to what their friends post online which can make them feel worse about their lives. Social network users should be aware that they can limit updates from others. On Facebook for instance users have the option of sharing their statuses and photos with a selected group of people (only me, friends, public) and they can also hide status updates from their newsfeed from other users. Facebook needs to make it clearer to their users that these options are available and this could possibly help to limit what people share online with others.

If social networks believe that the threat they pose to self- esteem is a serious enough issue (and the evidence is growing) then they really need to consider working in conjunction with other groups such as the government and self-esteem charities to help protect their users. One good way to demonstrate their awareness and willingness to deal with the issue might be to allow the government and charities to have ads on social networks which offer help to users whose self-esteem may be damaged from social networking. Advertising things such as the Home Office’s body confidence campaign, having links to the NHS and charity websites could offer help to users who where and when they most need it.

Ultimately a social network’s users are its most valuable assets. Therefore Facebook, or any other social network for that matter, need to take seriously any threat to its members if they want to continue to be seen as space people enjoy visiting.

This week we share the contents of a crumpled tear-stained note bearing the signature ‘Marky Z’ which was shoved under the door of Social Climber’s discreetly opulent townhouse last Tuesday night.

In other news Social Climber assesses the impact social sharing might have on voter turnout; social media training in higher education and a cursory nod to the role of social media in the slow death of feminism.

Get the entire bally thing here: Social Climber no.39 (14th September 2012)

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Why not follow the Social Climber on  Twitter? Seriously, why not?

Social networks create a platform where connections are formed and where people can interact with others but as discussed in my first blog post there is increasing evidence that these interactions can affect many users self-esteem. To what extent should social networks be responsible for addressing issues that might affect their user’s self-esteem? Undoubtedly, social networks have a responsibility, but there are other groups that should potentially play a role; the government, charities and social network users themselves.

The Government has authority which it could use to address how social networking can affect users’ self-esteem. For example, whilst the home office runs a body confidence campaign and the NHS offers help on self-esteem there is definitely an opportunity to provide support and advice on the impact social networks can have on self-esteem.

Several charities such as Walk Tall help people with low self-esteem. With this being the aim of such charities, surely it should be within their remit to help raise awareness and support users whose self-esteem is being damaged online.

Social network users also have to learn to start taking more responsibility for themselves. If seeing photos and statuses online affects some of us we may need to start controlling what we do and how much time we spend online. Similarly, if we are the type to boast on Facebook, before we post something we should think about how we could negatively affect some users.

Although these groups should play a role, social networks certainly have a responsibility to their users to provide a safe, secure environment for them to build social relations. There have been a number of studies on the power of social networks to influence behaviour, so there’s clearly an opportunity for social networks to influence online behaviour including those behaviours which lead to or perpetuate low self-esteem. There are currently four key challenges that are preventing them from doing so.

• One of the biggest challenges social networks are facing (as mentioned in my first post) is that they are being used as a space where people can portray a false image of themselves by exaggerating or lying. Facebook quarterly report reveals that over 83 million profiles are fake, which is almost double the number Facebook had initially estimated. This suggests that this is a real challenge for social networks.
• Secondly, research has shown that more time spent online can increase the chances of your self-esteem being damaged. However, social networks do not want to actively limit users’ time online as this may have an effect on their revenue.
• Another challenge for social networks is that they have limited power controlling what people share on social networks. Nevertheless, Facebook have made attempts to control what people share (for example, not being able to post pictures of a sexual nature). Also, Facebook allows its users to report photos/comments, block people and apps as well as hiding other users from their newsfeed.
• Lastly, social networks face a challenge when trying to control the number of friends users have. Research has shown that users should have no more than 354 friends online, but users want to be able to stay connected to as many friends and family. Therefore, restricting the number of friends users have could be very frustrating.

Social networks need to be convinced that self-esteem is a big problem and address these challenges.

In my next post I am going to look at the ways in which Facebook and other social networks can find solutions to these challenges.

Elsewhere Social Climber casts an eye over a new social network just for families; analyses research showing a shift in how people donate to charity through social and laments the cut and paste journalism behind the “Twitter Buzz” stories which seem to follow every political speech these days.

The real McCoy? It can be found here: Social Climber no.38 (7th September 2012)

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Twitter is Social Climber’s town, and there’ll be no trouble from the likes of you.

Doctor Harry Brandt, director of The Center for Eating Disorders at Sheppard Pratt, claims that ‘Facebook is making it easier for people to spend more time and energy criticizing their own bodies and wishing they looked like someone else.’ Facebook allows us to view our friends’ pictures and statuses, but this can lead to some of us making unhealthy comparisons between ourselves and others on Facebook. In fact, just over half of the 600 Facebook users surveyed agree that they compare their life to that of their friends when they read status updates and see pictures posted. Doctor Harry Brandt also states that with ‘constant access to the internet it is difficult for people to remove themselves from images and other triggers that lower self-esteem.’ People make comparisons between themselves and others offline but online we are continually exposed to these images. It probably doesn’t help that research shows Facebook users usually post and tag photos of themselves at their best body shape and clothes. The risk is that Facebook is creating an avenue for individuals to compare themselves to others in a detrimental fashion and by doing so poses a serious threat to their user’s self-esteem.

This risk is compounded by the fact that, for the majority of us, social media plays a large part in our everyday lives: the survey showed that 80% of the 600 people surveyed log into Facebook at least once a day. Those who use Facebook frequently are constantly surrounded by images and statuses which could lower their self-esteem. In another study the University of Houston found that there was a link between the amount of time college students spent on Facebook and depressive symptoms.

It’s not just the amount of time that we spend on using social media that can have an effect on our self-esteem, the number of friends we have on Facebook could also have an impact. According to Psychologist Mudra India Muskesh you should have no more than 354 friends on Facebook. In Mukesh’s study Facebook users were asked how they felt about their place in life and their achievements. Those who had just viewed status updates gave themselves lower ratings and those with over 354 friends felt more inadequate in comparison to those with less friends. This is interesting; could it be that having more friends on Facebook allows people to make more comparisons between themselves and others? Mukesh states that being continually informed of other’s achievements can make people feel worse about themselves.

However, Mukesh and other researchers point out that these achievements could be over exaggerated as people like to boast on social networking sites. In fact, according to a survey 25% of Facebook users lie and the number of fake accounts on Facebook have been on the rise. This suggests that people are using social networks to distort reality.

The above research has shown that using social networks can affect our self-esteem and suggests there’s a correlative relationship. Nevertheless, it isn’t clear if social networks are creating new self-esteem issues or exacerbating existing ones. In my next blog post I am going to look at the challenges social networks face when it comes to preventing the damage to their user’s self-esteem.

In other new Google + reinvents itself (somewhat) as an enterprise social network for companies and yet another measurement metric (Gross Ratings Points) falls foul of Social Climber’s “for-god’s-sake-measure-something-other-than-reach” criteria for new social measurement metrics.

Also in this week’s missive your social media guardian considers what tortured mind first devised the word ‘onboarding’ and whether it’s only Social Climber who immediately thinks of ‘waterboarding’ every time it’s used.

Finally this week Social Climber realises that there isn’t yet a really great social list making app and wonders if the makers of ‘Well’ can deliver on this dream.

If you’ve read this far you’re clearly interested in more so why not read the full thing here: Social Climber no.37 (31st August 2012)

Click here to get Social Climber delivered to your inbox every Friday.

See also: Social Climber on Twitter, it’s kinda the coolest.

Elsewhere Social Climber casts an eye over another instance of the industry press obsessing over the connection between age and the ability to perform a role in social media, Amazon actually helping small businesses and Google bigging up the superiority of their online ad products though the medium of, er, traditional print ads…

Get the whole package for free here: Social Climber no.35 (17th August 2012)

Click here to get Social Climber delivered to your inbox every Friday.

Social Climber on Twitter. For reals.